Originally Posted by
ORAC
“there are some… that say that air dominance is not critical. And that what matters is owning key terrain [and] an artillery slugfest. I disagree. If anything this [shows] protracted brutality of a conflict where neither side has gained air dominance”
Singing from the same hymnsheet as ACM Knighton:
Strategically, the point is exactly the one the Minister makes: fundamentally, we do not want to get into the kind of fight that we see in Ukraine today—that horribly attritional trench warfare that we thought was a thing of the past. Part of the reason why the campaign is unfolding in that way is that neither side has been able to exercise air superiority. That gives us a glimpse of the challenges of gaining air superiority in a future fight, and we have to be able to demonstrate that we can do that. I expect that in future we will have to be more prepared than we have been for the last 20 years to fight for control of the air. That will probably be limited—limited in time and limited in geography—but without it you cannot deliver any kind of military effect, either from the air or on the ground.
17 May 2023 - Aviation Procurement - Oral evidence to HoC Defence Committee